First of all, I want to put out there that being a vegetarian is not for everyone. I understand that and am in no way forcing anybody stop consuming meat. Leading this diet was a personal choice based on various personal decisions.
So how’d you become a vegetarian?
I’ve been a solid vegetarian for about three years, but getting to the point at which I am now was not easy in the beginning. For me, the difficulties were not in cutting meat out of my life, but the acceptance of my parents. My conversion to a vegetarian diet was gradual.
First, I had to make sure I had good reasons for doing this. I wasn’t doing it because it was a fad, like my parents thought. I did it to help me live a healthier life, have an animal-friendly dinner-plate, and to be more content with what I was putting into my body. If you would like to read up on more good reasons as to why someone would want to become a vegetarian, reference 49 Reasons. This is decision that you need to make and you need to be comfortable with.
Second thing on my way to becoming a vegetarian was research. I needed solid proof to present to my parents that what I was going to do was not harmful to me. I did the research; my problem was actually presenting it well enough to convince them. In the end it took the word of a nutritionist to have them to begin to accept my decision. With research came the different foods that can substitute the needed nutrients that meat used to regularly provide me.
Third thing was progressive abstinence from meat itself. I began with gradually reducing the amount of red meat that I ate. For a period of time, the only meat that I would eat was from fish and chicken. After a while I stopped eating that too. It was tricky to convince my mum that I didn’t want to eat fish. She’d proclaim that she’d met plenty of “vegetarians” who ate fish. People who do not eat any meat other than fish, are not vegetarians. They are called pescatarian. My personal goal and my decision was to be a vegetarian. Meaning that I do not eat the flesh of the animal but I do eat/drink dairy products and eat eggs. If you want to learn more about some of the more common “nontraditional” diets people have check out this Top 7 list.
One of the most frequently asked questions I get once people find out I’m a vegetarian is:
Don’t you miss eating meat?
My answer is always no. I never really liked meat so it wasn’t hard to quit eating it. The road someone could take if they don’t want to be a vegetarian, would like to maintain meat in their diet, but cares about the treatment of animals is to only buy products from “humane” sources (farms which are improved in animal treatment compared to factory slaughterhouses). What I don’t miss is the meat, what I do miss is the ability to be able to go to any restaurant and have a wide variety of choices. Sure my choices are limited and there’s no fast food restaurants based solely on a meat-free diet (if you know of one in Calgary, please do tell) but I am happy with the choice that I have made.
Being a vegetarian is something you have to decide on. It’s a commitment to yourself. You could always try it out with a couple of recipes here and there, maybe one a week. Have fun and experiment with the things you can make in your kitchen. For me it was a natural step to take. Do what works for you and make sure you’re always getting the nutrients you need to be healthy. Don’t slack off and let your health deplete.
There are plenty of cool vegetarian oriented websites that help you with recipes that provide you with what you need. One you could definitely check out is vegetarian.about.com. From what I’ve seen they have great content. Most of the food that I make are from recipes that I’ve created. That’s one thing that I really like that came out of this experience; vegetarianism has encouraged me to play chef and have fun with cooking.